Video: VA farmer facing fines for … hosting a birthday party

posted at 3:21 pm on August 22, 2012 by Ed Morrissey

What does every 10-year-old girl want for her birthday? A big party and lots of room to have fun. My own 10-year-old granddaughter had her campout/sleepover birthday party at our house three months ago. Fortunately, we’re not farmers in Fauquier County, Virginia — where we would have had to apply for a “special events” permit to host the party for the Little Admiral or her friends. Martha Boneta isn’t so fortunate, because when she invited her friend to stage a birthday party for her 10-year-old daughter at the farm, a few extra clowns showed up and issued her a citation for it — which could cost thousands of dollars in fines:

And people wonder why the Tea Party sprang into existence. Tea Party activists showed up to protest Fauquier County’s actions two weeks ago when Boneta tried to appeal the citation for the party and for selling her produce at the farm to consumers — which Virginia state law allows. The Gadsden flags and the pitchforks all came out, but to no avail; Boneta’s citations were upheld, leaving her to go to court:

Hashour said Boneta has roughly 30 to 45 days to make an appeal at Fauquier County Circuit Court.

Boneta’s attorney, Michelle Rosati, declined to comment Thursday as to what the next legal step will be. Boneta stayed out of the hearing.

“We feel very strongly that the law is on our side,” Rosati told Virginia Watchdog.

If not, then the words of Charles Dickens comes to mind, when a court told Mr. Bumble in Oliver Twist that the law supposes that a husband has control of his wife

“If the law supposes that,” said Mr. Bumble,… “the law is a ass—a idiot. If that’s the eye of the law, the law is a bachelor; and the worst I wish the law is that his eye may be opened by experience—by experience.”

Hopefully, the only asses in Virginia are the Fauquier County officials who cited Boneta, and — inevitably — the unnamed neighbor who sicced them on Boneta in the first place for having a birthday party for a 10-year-old girl and her friends. Thankfully, I have much better neighbors than Boneta.

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Sad. This county is on the fringes of Northern VA. Close enough to DC to commute, but far enough out in the country to enjoy the beauty of VA. There are a lot of Tea Party types there, and, IIRC, Winchester and Remington are there in Fauquier country—thus, there are lots of our people out there if you know whut I’m a sezzin.

there has to be some backstory on this. A dog crapping on the neighbors lawn, or something else that has been brewing prior to this. This type of stuff doesn’t happen in isolation without a prior string of unfortunate unneighborly events.

So, we need to worry about public union police officers getting laid off? When they have nothing better to do but shut down a birthday party for a 10 year old? At what point, as a public servant, do you say to yourself “Well damn, but these kids are outta hand! Better get that citation book out!” No warning? Thousand(s) of dollars in fines and legal fees?

Oh, my bad. I forgot, it’s what Obama and Democrats like to call ‘revenue’.

Inertia and liberals are pushing us inexorably toward a govt, at the national and local levels, that controls more and more aspects of our lives. It’s funny to hear a local official lament that it is kind of sad, but “we can’t let you do that anymore,” “you” being kids, and “that” being have a lemonade stand. Why? “Well… um, we don’t know exactly what’s in the lemonade.” That’s the problem, the govt is trying to get it to the point that it has to know exactly everything that we are doing.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of local govt “conservatives” that are going with the flow and not standing up against this all out push to make govt as intrusive as ever. Now more than ever, in this age of Obama (AOB), local conservative officials have to stand firm and as a bloc against intrusive govt… or be hounded from office.

This type of stuff doesn’t happen in isolation without a prior string of unfortunate unneighborly events.

ted c on August 22, 2012 at 3:27 PM

Take off those rose colored glasses…I have even heard of protesters lining up along the streets to harass the families of fallen soldiers, whom they did not know.

Pal, kooks are kooks, they don’t need provocation, or they create provocation so people, some people, can say “This type of stuff doesn’t happen in isolation without…” and then those people give them cover.

Such is the supposed wisdom of county officials given just a smidgen of power and zoning control, and then the regulations doth flow and flow.

This incident is just a poster-child for the need to keep local government under a watchful eye. Given a bit of power and authority they seek to expand it: the heart of politicians and bureaucrats are the same at all levels of government, which is why they must be given very little and well defined limits and held to them at each and every election.

When such government does not suit the will of the people and seeks, instead, to establish itself separate from the needs of the people, then such government is to be changed or abolished by the people. Doesn’t matter if its your local HOA or at the Nation State level. The nature of government is the same regardless of scale.

Yeah. I suspect this is an on going unlicensed business, not simply hosting a party for a friend’s kid. Neighbor probably had enough. It would be nice to get the whole story instead of an agenda driven one. I’m not a proponent of taxing or regulating people to death but let’s not claim this was just a kiddie party if it was not.

somebody parked on their lawn, blocked their driveway, ran over the rosebushes or squealed their tires when they hit Hwy 29. Probably some Alice Cratchit type neighbor, peering through her blinds at all of the pretty 10 year old girls and was just sad and bitter because she aborted all of hers back when she was doin’ acid and gettin’ free love back in the 70′s.

I see no mention as to whether Ms. Boneta was charging a fee for hosting the party. I wonder, because if Ms. Boneta has been trying to monetize the farm though onsite produce sales, she may well have determined that she might also like to charge for use of the property for parties, weddings, etc.

If this was a business venture, wherein Ms. Boneta was charging a fee for the party to occur on her property and/or providing food or services included in that fee, its reasonable to assume that such business would fall under the same regulations and laws as those businesses that serve as venues for parties, weddings, events, etc.

However, if Ms. Boneta was simply a friend hosting a birthday party for a friend’s child, there was what would be considered a number of guests consistent with such an event (not requiring extra sanitation facilities), parking of guests cars didn’t pose a hazard, or burden to local traffic, there was not undue and excessive noise related to the festivities ( which might have broken local ordinances aimed at keeping the peace), then I’d say Ms. Boneta didn’t break any other ordinances or create either a public or private nuisance.

If this is a law, ordinance, or regulation, passed legitimately in Fauquier County,and its being applied inappropriately, or if the resident’s simply disagree with this regulation (as well they might), those residents of Fauquier County need to take that issue up with their local officials and change the regulation, and, perhaps, the local officials responsible.

There is, and I read this two weeks ago so I’m a bit sketchy on details. I apologize in advance.

The way I understand it, it’s okay to sell farm goods by the side of the road. But to hold a general gathering/open house in order to sell, is not allowed.

The private birthday party is considered, by the county, an attempt to make money.

Liam on August 22, 2012 at 3:45 PM

Thanks for the background. No need to apologize. It is crazy logic to explain.
A private party for ten year olds is an attempt to sell produce ?
Not buying it.
It was mentioned in the vid that there was a NEW law in play here. Why was a warning not given ?

I found an article regarding this issue, and it appears that the Counties complaint is NOT that Ms. Boneta allowed the friend to have her daughters birthday party at the farm.

The complaint registered by the County was that during the party, Ms. Boneta, who also regularly sold fresh produce at the farm, actually engaged in promoting those sales during the birthday party TO THE BIRTHDAY PARTY GUEST’S AND THOSE ADULTS WHO ATTENDED THE PARTY.

The County alleges that this sales of produce to the party guests was, in fact, monetizing the party, which would then fall under the same regulations pertaining to use of a property for parties, weddings, etc. Since Ms. Boneta had no permits for such a business she was ticketed and fined.

Ms. Boneta contends that she simply sold the produce as part of her normal produce sales and that she did not attempt to use the party as a means of profit. She maintains that the guests simply wished to buy some produce from her stand and she sold it to them.

According to the various reports I’ve read, here’s what I see:
1) she has a farm produce stand – which is perfectly legal without permits.
2) she also sells crafts and other stuff, and in fact got permits for that side business.
3) she also hosts parties as a business as well, and based on the prior permits thought she was ok.
4) the county changed the laws “quietly” to require special event permits for large parties – after she had gotten all the permits she thought she needed.

The question in my mind is – how quietly did the county change the rules? If they didn’t provide proper public notice, then it would appear someone with ties to the county has it out for her.

Ya – there are some twists to this that are not very clear.
Granted the government is definitely getting overly intrusive, but there’s a possiblity she was pushing the limits on the whole licensed business situation.

but there’s a possiblity she was pushing the limits on the whole licensed business situation.

dentarthurdent on August 22, 2012 at 4:07 PM

And just to clarify, while that may be the law, and I believe in following the law, I personally don’t agree with government requiring anyone to buy a license in order to go into business. That just doesn’t fit my idea of how capitalism and free markets should work.

There IS more to this story. The single birthday party wasn’t really the bone of contention, though it was included in her citation.

She had been hosting a bunch of commercial events (events designed to promote her farm as a destination) – wine tastings, craft workshops, and pumpkin carving. And she wasn’t cited for selling her own stuff, as VA law clearly permits. She was cited for selling merchandise – produce, wine, etc. that is not produced on her farm, she trucks it in.

Farquier has a sleepy, horsey, gentry atmosphere, and this makes running her farm like a cracker barrel gift shop unwelcome.

Boneta is appealing the decision, but in the meantime she has 2,000 tomato plants, 1,000 eggplants, and crop rows of kale and other vegetables ready to pop, and she’s not sure how she’s going to sell them.

Boneta isn’t the only victim of Fauquier County’s newfound zeal for agricultural regs: The Board of Supervisors recently passed an ordinance dramatically limiting what area wineries can do on their grounds. Events after 6 p.m. are no longer permitted. Sales of food by wineries are prohibited, as are extra attractions such as farmers markets, mini-golf, or whatever else officials deem “to be similar in nature or in impact to” the listed activities.

Perhaps the most offensive provision of the ordinance authorizes “private personal gatherings” at wineries. Someone obviously forgot to tell Fauquier officials that in America, we don’t need government permission for private personal gatherings on our own property.

Yet even in their contempt for the freedom of assembly and private property rights, Fauquier officials limited the definition of “private personal gathering” to owners who reside at or adjacent to their wineries, and who do not market their wine at such gatherings. This means no winery signs — no bottle labels, even, when owners hold private personal gatherings on their property, because that’s marketing.

With all due respect to those pointing out the sales that took place at the birthday party, take a step back. We should not NEED the permission of the government to sell vegetables from our own property.

Birthdays make kids grow older, and you know what happens then: bigger bodies mean bigger lungs…and more CO2 spewed into the air!!! And when the kids get older, the government’s health care costs go up!!!

I truly do not understand how this kind of cr@p gets any traction? With all the “eat local” & localvore initiatives, you would think there would be an immediate blowback on the boobs that perpetrate this. “No Farms, No Food” sums it up. I agree with SKYFOX, this path is unsustainable and cuts across all lines.

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ObamaCare comes with a ‘Heartbeat Tax’… If your heart is beating, pay up.
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New 16 page ordnance in town here (02-2012). Inspections for rental properties is the main thrust of the law… but these are the 1st two parapgraphs…
-Any landlord and/or owner of leased property located within the borough shall be responsible for any activities actions events and conduct of any person and/or animal which occur in on or about said premises or property The landlord/owners responsibility shall extend to and include but not be limited to any disorderly conduct nuisance offensive lanage and any other behavior or conduce which is a violation of any State statute or of any of the provisions of the Code of the Borough

The landlord/owner of any such property located within the Borough shall be responsible and liable for the conduct actions of any tenant invitee guest or any other person who is in on or about the premises or and property with the permission either express or implied of the landlord, owner, tenant, guest, or invitee.
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I was setting up my inspection yesterday and informed them that I will be selling asap. I will not be made responsible for another adult’s actions.
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They tried to tell me it only meant that I had to keep the yard clean… They do think we’re idiots now don’t they.